I really hate change but ...............................the recent changes on here don't bother me in the slightest TBH - we couldn't PM on Ch 4 - seems about the same for me.
Originally Posted by El Loro:
Originally Posted by KaffyBaffy:
I think I've said before - unless there are thousands of members on other boards we don't know about I doubt even if we all signed up they'd get enough to pay someone to dust the monitors once a week.
Ted O'Neill posted this a few days ago:
"Social Strata- a company that has been in business over 15 years and lists major customers like The Discovery Channel, Mattel, Scripps Network (HGTV), and thousands more."
(my comment - Social Strata runs all Hoop,la sites including Gagajoyjoy. It also runs the Eve community websites which were created before Hoop,la was developed and they still exist. I don't know how many of these are paid for the the owners of the various sites or are free like Gagajoyjoy. Community moderators such as myself help to reduce the time involvement of Social Strata so I doubt if the costs they actually incur directly relating to this forum are that much)
EL as a mod do you have any idea of the number of members who, if they paid up, would guarantee the long term future of the site?
Originally Posted by moonie:
Originally Posted by Saint:
*stomps in*
I loves you all and this place aint goin' no where!!!!
Them feets are nearly as big as mine 
If it meant keep this forum open - i would pay a ONE OFF payment.
I wud miss Moonie w-a-y too much 
Originally Posted by Saint:
Originally Posted by moonie:
Originally Posted by Saint:
*stomps in*
I loves you all and this place aint goin' no where!!!!
Them feets are nearly as big as mine
If it meant keep this forum open - i would pay a ONE OFF payment.
I wud miss Moonie w-a-y too much
Oh! I am touched 
Well that's what some people say anyway
Originally Posted by lal:
I agree.
Originally Posted by lal:
Sup?
Originally Posted by squiggle:
Originally Posted by El Loro:
Originally Posted by KaffyBaffy:
I think I've said before - unless there are thousands of members on other boards we don't know about I doubt even if we all signed up they'd get enough to pay someone to dust the monitors once a week.
Ted O'Neill posted this a few days ago:
"Social Strata- a company that has been in business over 15 years and lists major customers like The Discovery Channel, Mattel, Scripps Network (HGTV), and thousands more."
(my comment - Social Strata runs all Hoop,la sites including Gagajoyjoy. It also runs the Eve community websites which were created before Hoop,la was developed and they still exist. I don't know how many of these are paid for the the owners of the various sites or are free like Gagajoyjoy. Community moderators such as myself help to reduce the time involvement of Social Strata so I doubt if the costs they actually incur directly relating to this forum are that much)
EL as a mod do you have any idea of the number of members who, if they paid up, would guarantee the long term future of the site?
I'm not aware that the long term future of the site has been questioned by the moderators as such.
On the Hoop.la site they have a pricing section of the packages on offer.
There is the Apprentice package, the Standard package, and the Pro package.
I do not know which package covers Gagajoyjoy but it's not the Pro one.
It looks fairly close to the Apprentice one:
http://www.hoop.la/apprentice.php
The Apprentice package is free, but has a $25 VIP package attached which is the same as for Gagajoyjoy. (Note that if you look at the link it is aimed at the owners of websites, not users and reference to getting a share of revenue if there are enough VIP takeups is irrelevant. Also if you go on that link you will soon get a message asking if you want help)
If Social Strata are prepared to offer Apprentice packages to the world where they may get no income unless VIPs are taken up, it seems to me that there is no need to question the future of this forum.
If the Gagajoyjoy package is the Standard one then the owners (not the users) would pay $99 per month, that about ÂĢ750 a year which effectively is being given to us free.
I love change. Love it, love it, love it.
Originally Posted by noseyrosie:
Originally Posted by slimfern:
Originally Posted by Mount Olympus *Olly*:
Originally Posted by noseyrosie:
Slimfern... would you run this site, put in all the work and time that goes into it, for nothing? Just volunteer all that effort for people you're not even linked to in any way or friends with? If not, then you can't ask it of other people.
that bit was sorted by getting forum members to Moderate it..
Ditto!
Olly moderators only do a little bit of admin and keeping order - they don't actually run the site and do the technical part - or pay for the server costs.
The O'Neills don't chat on here with us socially - so its not like they're doing this as a favour for friends.
Someone in another thread said we'd had a free ride from Gagajoyjoy for a while. Thats how I see it too. No one wants to pay but what are the options? [Though I favour voluntary contributions through paypal to meet costs and a little graphic at the top of the forum showing what % of the target has been raised as I've seen that work elsewhere ] .
I may be wrong here but any technical stuff done behind the scenes is not so much for the benefit of this place more for the forum template package which they sell and their customers, No?
We just benefit from any mass template changes they make.. in fact we could be regarded as guinea pigs for this template since it is a new one they introduced alongside their older eve community's one to possibly take over from it. . we were a bit like the testers. . or have I got that wrong? probably
The changes don't affect me either . .I don't PM people. .but being part of this community and seeing changes made, that other forum template providers offer as standard in their free versions, narks me a tad.. seems a bit mean to charge for bog standard stuff for a very small group like this especially one who's been here from almost the start of this inception with them.. but ho hum 
As I said before. I'm more than happy with PayPal!
Originally Posted by El Loro:
On the Hoop.la site they have a pricing section of the packages on offer.
There is the Apprentice package, the Standard package, and the Pro package.
I do not know which package covers Gagajoyjoy but it's not the Pro one.
It looks fairly close to the Apprentice one:
http://www.hoop.la/apprentice.php
The Apprentice package is free, but has a $25 VIP package attached which is the same as for Gagajoyjoy. (Note that if you look at the link it is aimed at the owners of websites, not users and reference to getting a share of revenue if there are enough VIP takeups is irrelevant. Also if you go on that link you will soon get a message asking if you want help)
If Social Strata are prepared to offer Apprentice packages to the world where they may get no income unless VIPs are taken up, it seems to me that there is no need to question the future of this forum.
If the Gagajoyjoy package is the Standard one then the owners (not the users) would pay $99 per month, that about ÂĢ750 a year which effectively is being given to us free.
Thanks for this information El Loro 
Whatever happens... as long as we know in advance and can discuss our options. Remember C4 just shut up shop and turfed us out with 2 weeks notice or something 
I for one am very thankful for this forum and to those who provide it and moderate it 
I'm not sure I like the idea of VIP's and those that are NSIP's....
Originally Posted by noseyrosie:
Slimfern... would you run this site, put in all the work and time that goes into it, for nothing? Just volunteer all that effort for people you're not even linked to in any way or friends with? If not, then you can't ask it of other people.
It was my understanding that gaga was an offshoot of an already established social community. Something they did as a favour to ch4 members. They had a business to run and moderated here in their spare time hence when spare time became less and less they asked members here to moderate. When the whole members moderating debate came about money was never mentioned. I know the site is bigger than gaga and I presume this notice has gone out to all areas of the site.
"who would run this site?" well I thought they'd made that decision when they appointed members as mods. Feels like a slow boot out the door to me. Making new PM's is cutting off one of the things on here that probably keep people here. The ability to chat offline about personal stuff. The ability to PM was a great bonus here as ch4 didn't have it. If I send 100 PM's to people I've already PM'd is it gonna take up any more space or use up any more money than "possibly" creating a new PM to someone in the future? If I wanna see what my mate Lacey posts by searching her name in the member list is that using up money? It's nonsense and no way to run a business.
Have I ranted enough?